This morning we continue our series “Grace that is Simply Amazing.” I want to get back to the teaching from the Apostle Paul, but this morning I am led to rehash something I shared yesterday. In yesterday’s message I shared a few notes from a message I preached Sunday entitled, “Grace Takes the Pressure Off Of You!” I received several emails from people telling me that they were helped tremendously because they thought God was holding their past against them. Listen, if God were OUT TO GET YOU, then you would have been “Got” a long time ago. It’s not like you can hide from God. It’s not like He does not know how to find you. If God wanted to do something to you, there would be nothing that could hold Him back. The only thing restraining God is His love for you. You have to get this down in your heart: GOD LOVES YOU! God is not mad at you. God is not out to get you. God wants to bless you; not because you are so good, but because He is!
Let’s look at two scriptures I shared with you yesterday:
(2 Timothy 2:13 AMP) If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself.
(Heb 8:12 KJV) For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
If you have been following this series for any length of time it should be crystal clear to you that the New Covenant we have with God, which came through Jesus, is a Covenant of GRACE! Grace is not a license to sin, and God will still allow you to reap the negative consequences of sin, but if you are truly Born-Again the Lord wants you to be righteousness-conscious and not sin-conscious. If you live your life focused on your sin, and the mistakes of your past, you will never be able to walk with the confidence (or faith) required to maximize your purpose and potential in Christ.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. When the devil looks at you, he sees SIN. When God looks at you, He sees His Son… and God will not deny Himself!
2. The devil wants you to focus on your PAST, so you can live in condemnation. God wants you to focus on your PURPOSE, so you can live by faith.
3. God has promised to be merciful to your unrighteousness. So don’t allow satan to cause you to think God is mad at you or that He is out to get you.
4. If God wanted to “get” you, you would have already been “got.”
5. When God looks at you He does not see what you did, He sees His purpose! He has already forgotten what you did. So why are you allowing satan to beat you up about something God has already forgotten?
6. Don’t judge your future by your PAST. Judge your future by your PURPOSE!
7. When you sin, be quick to repent, receive forgiveness, forgive yourself, and move on! God is not through with you! He wants you use you by GRACE! But you allow God to use you if you wallow around in condemnation.
8. God wants to bless you – NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE SO GOOD – but because HE IS SO GOOD!
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for teaching me more and more about Your amazing, undeserved, unearned and immeasurable GRACE! You love me with an everlasting love. You sent Your Son Jesus to die for me, even while mankind was in sin. Jesus did not die for me because I deserved it. Jesus died for me by Grace. And even now, I realize You designed my purpose before the foundations of the world by Grace, You saved me by Grace when I called upon Jesus as Lord, and You now choose to use me by Grace. Without question, I do not deserve what You do for me, nor do I deserve how You choose to use me. But You keep blessing me and You keep using me by Grace. The more I embrace Your Grace, the more I realize that You are not mad at me, and that You are not out to get me. When satan looks at me he sees sin. When You look at me You see Your Son and You see the purpose You placed down inside me before the world began. Under this New Covenant You have promised to be merciful to my unrighteousness. Your Word now tells me that You will not remember my sins and iniquities. You could remember them and hold them against me if You wanted to, but You have chosen not to. You have chosen to bless me, use me, and work with me by Grace, and for that I shall forever be thankful. So I enter this day determined to embrace Your Grace, to resist condemnation, to build up my confidence IN YOU, and to pursue my purpose by faith. I am now able to live by faith with fearless confidence, because my faith is rooted and grounded in Your Grace! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
